In November exports rose by $1.4 billion to $208.6 billion and imports dropped by $2.5 billion to $251.7 billion, narrowing the trade deficit by -8.2% to $43.1 billion, its lowest level since October 2016. Goods exports increased by $1 billion, including drilling equipment (+$0.4 billion), automotives (+$0.4 billion), and jewelry (+$0.4 billion), while goods imports decreased by -$2.9 billion, including drops for civilian aircraft (-$0.6 billion), computers (-$0.6 billion) and cell phones and other household goods (-$0.5 billion). Both service imports and exports increased by +$0.4 billion. The trade deficit with China fell -$2.2 billion to -$25.6 billion, with Chinese imports dropping -$0.8 billion to $34.5 billion and exports to China rising +$1.4 billion to $8.9 billion.

Factory orders fell for the third time in four months in November as drops in new orders for transportation and defense pulled overall orders down by -0.7%. Defense aircraft orders dropped -72.9% to $1.9 billion, ship and boat orders dropped -30.8% to $1.9 billion, and civilian aircraft orders dropped -2.2% to $7.8 billion. Excluding transportation, orders were up +0.3%, and excluding defense, orders were up +0.7%. On a yearly basis, orders were down for civilian aircraft (-38.0%), computers (-26.7%), and defense communication equipment (‑17.7%), and were up for industrial machinery (+6.1%), defense search and navigation equipment (+5.7%), and ferrous metal foundries (+5.3%).

There were 145,000 jobs created in December, leaving the unemployment rate unchanged at 3.5%. Jobs were created in retail (+41.000), leisure and hospitality (+40,000), health care (+28,000), and construction (+20,000), and jobs declined in manufacturing (-12,000), transportation (-10,000), and mining (-8,000). Average hourly earnings were up $0.03 to $28.32, dropping the yearly gain in wages to +2.9% from +3.1%. The more comprehensive U-6 unemployment rate, which includes part time workers and workers marginally attached to the labor force dropped to 6.7% (-0.2%), the lowest rate on record since 1974.